eombeeg



(No Model.)-

H. J. ROMBERG.'

GAR BRAKE.

1|. m v M Z T. T a M. Y 1a.... B B .fu n 6 .fu a Px MQW WITNEssEs HENRY J. ROMBERG, OF NEWARK, NEWv JERSEY.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 342,636, dated May 25, 1886.

Application filed February 12, 1886. Serial No, 191,767. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. ROMBERG,0' Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have linvented a new and Im proved Car-Brake, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

One of the greatestdisadvantages arising from the existing mothod of applying brakes to street-cars is that the brakes are operated by means of a crank-arm which is actuated by the hand of the driver, and consequently one hand must always be free to operate the-brake, which,in case the horses become to any degree unmanageable, is extremely inconvenient, if'

not dangerous.

The object of my invention is to provide a brake which the driver can operate with his foot; and to this end the invention consists of a braking mechanism controlled by a lever that is operated by a pedal arranged upon the platform of the car.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is an inverted plan View of a car provided with my improved form of brake. Fig. 2 is a side view of a portion of the car. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the pedal and its connections, and Fig. 4. isla view of a modied construction.

In applying such a brake mechanism as is illustrated in the drawings above referred to,

the central brake-lever, A,is, as usual,pivotally connected to a spider, a, arranged as best shown in Fig. l,said lever A being connected to the brake-beams C and C by means of connectingfrods B and B,said rods being connected to the brake-beams in the usual manner,and being connected to the central brake` lever at the point-s c c. The beams C C are suspended from the under side of the car by means of spring-strips d d d, three of such strips being preferably employed in connection with each beam,the idea being to suspend the brake-beams so that the brake-shoes D D will be normally thrown back from the peripheries of the wheels E E. Beneath each platform there isarranged a lever, N, one end of said lever being pivotally connected to a bracket, n, while the other is pivotally connected to the lower end of a pedal, O, which passes up through the platform within reach of the feet of the driver. These levers N are connected to the ends b b of the lever A by means of chains ee and connecting-rods ff, the chains e passing upward from the levers and over sheaves h h, that are mounted in brackets carried by one of the platformtimbers. Upon one side of each of the pedals O there is formed a toothed rack,p,which is engaged beneath the platform by a pawl, q', carried at the lower end of a short verticalshaft, r, that passes up through the platform ofl the car, the upper end of the shaft o' being provided with an arm, s, as best shown in Figs. E and 4. A spiral spring, i, is fixed to the shaft -r and coiled about it,the projecting end of the spring abutting against the walls of the recess within which the shaft is mounted, the parts being so arranged that the spring will act to. force the pawl'ginto engagement with the teeth of the rack p. The construction of the teeth of the rack p is best shown in Fig. 3,'and from an inspection of this figure it will be seen that the upper edges of the teeth are formed so as to project at right angles to the shaft, while the lower edges are angular, this coustruction being adopt-edin order that the pedal may be depressed and held in the position to which it has been moved by the pawl g. Upon the upper end of the pedal there is a footplate, u.

Such being the general construction of the brake, it will be readily understood that the brake-shoes may be pressed against the peripheries of the wheels by simply applying pressure tothe pedal O to force it downward, for this movement of the pedal will carry the lever N downward and draw upon the chain e and rodf,so that the lever A will be moved to bring the brake-bars toward the center ofthe car,thus bringing the brakeshoesinto engagement with the wheels and checking their rotary motion, and as the pedal is forced downward it will be held in the position to which it has been moved by the engagement of the lpawl q with the rack p; but when the driver desires to throw off the brakes he throws the pawl out of engagement with the rack by pressing on the arm s, at which time the springs d d will act to throw the brake-bars away from the IOO wheels, and thus through the medium of the connecting parts return the pedal O to the normalelevated position. l

Although I have'described the pawl q as con- 5ftrolled by a spiral spring that is coiled about the shaft mit will of course be understood that a. flat spring arranged to press against the pawl or upon the opposite slide of the arm s would answer my purpose equally wel-l,snch a [o construction being indicated in Fig. 4. Y With the braking mechanism described the driver has both hands free to manage ,his Y horses, and consequently is in a much better position to control them should they become frightened or attempt to run away. 1

Having t-lius fully described my invention, what I claim as ne\v,.and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isi 1. The combination, with a central brakelever, a brake-bar, and a connecting-rod, of a lever pivotally connected to the platform of the car, a pedal arranged above the carplatform, and connected .to the said pivotallymounted'lever, a chain connecting the said lever andl the connectingrod, and` a sheave over which the chain passes. l

2. In a braking mechanism, the combination, with a lever, N,'provided with a. pedal, O, and pivotally connected to the platform of a car, of a sheave, h, a lever, A, a brake-bar, 3o C, and connecting rods and chains, substantially as described.

3. In a braking mechanism, the combina` tion, with a lever, N, providedV with a pedal, O, that is formed with a rack,p, ofapawl, q, controlledby aspring and connected to a shaft, r, which carries an arm, s, said lever N being connected to a lever, A, by a rod,f, and chain e, the lever A being in turn connected to the brake-bar by a connecting-rod, all substantially as described. 14. In abrak-ing mechanism, the combination of the following elements: strips d d, bar C, shoes D, connecting-rods B and f, a lever, A, chain c, sheave li, anda. lever, N, pivotally connected to the platform of the car,and provided with a pedal which carries a rack that is engaged by a pawl, substantially as described. i

HENRY J. `RoMBIsIwf.

Vitn esses:

. JOHN O. FORD,

WM. L. RIGHTER. 

